Red Robin Vol 02, Storyline 01: Closer to Home
by R.Lamius
Summary: Following the events of Issue 26 of Red Robin Vol 01, Tim still searches for the person behind the Assassination Tournament. But with someone skimming funds from the Neon Knights Foundation, his search is put on hold and he is dragged into catching whoever is responsible. However with all the evidence pointing at Tiffany Fox from the very start, can Tim find the real thief in time?


Okay, so I stretched, my "end of the week" deadline by a little, but I needed to do some last minute checks on some facts.

Standard disclaimer; I do not own any of the characters in this story, because if I did, I wouldn't be writing here!

So without further procrastinations, ladies, gentlemen and whoever else is reading this, I give you:

_**Red Robin Vol. 02**_

_** Storyline 01; Close to Home **_

_**Issue 1;**_

_**A Drop in a Shot Glass**_

_**Crime Alley Bunker 05:52 PM**_

_Who was at those catacombs?_

That was the question that kept circling in Tim Drake AKA Red Robin's head as he hung upside down on the horizontal bar in his bunker.

Tim stood at 5'10" with lean musculature. His black hair was now hanging in a complete mess, due to gravity and his normally icy blue eyes were closed, in contemplation.

It had been several weeks since his trip to Paris, where with the help of Cassandra Cain AKA Black Bat, herself daughter of two of the deadliest assassins on the planet, he managed to put a stop to the Assassination Tournament. Stopping the Tournament had been a monumental achievement as it stopped literally thousands of murders every year and provided intelligence of the activities of hundreds of career assassins. Everyone congratulated him, even some of the higher-ups in the Justice League, but for the young hero, the sweet taste of victory had been soured by the larger conspiracy that the mission uncovered.

If what the "Voice", as he had dubbed the nameless benefactor of the Tournament, claimed to be true, there were hundreds, if not thousands of similar machinations that were being carried out all over the world. The fact that he had dismantled one of them, hardly seemed to even register on the Voice's radar. And there was also the simple undeniable fact that the only reason the Assassination Tournament was even on the good guys' radar was because it was so big and flashy… Or at the very least flashy for the Voice. His other operations seemed to be buried so deep, Tim would probably need an archeology team to dig them up. The mishmash of Ancient Babylonian glyphs and modern tech also served to further the mystery and provide more questions than it did answers. Even after placing a few calls to old acquaintances of his father's in the archeology business he came up with nothing concrete, only leads he'd have to run personally in the near future.

During the debriefing he gave the others, Tim neglected to mention the "Voice" and his threats to the rest of the family, Bruce Wayne AKA Batman included. Cassandra had also agreed not to review the secret, provided he let her in if and when he found something. He had little doubt that Batman, being Batman, didn't suspect the omission of certain facts, but seeing how he wasn't constantly being pestered about it, Tim assumed that his mentor had dropped the issue for the moment.

While Tim suspected that it had more to do with his recent attempt to assassinate Captain Boomerang, the young man was happy that he was given space and left to investigate the mystery on his own. While he suspected that with the full resources of Batman Inc. the search would be going more smoothly, there was the nagging feeling that it would lead to too many questions.

Questions Tim wasn't ready to answer right now. Questions about his motives and intent. Questions which in the end would paint him black in the eyes of his allies. Because if Tim was correct in his estimates of just how much power and information was at the Voice's fingertips it could tip the balance of power so much, that the villains would be driven out of the game completely. In theory at least.

In reality, it could just as easily blow up in their faces and make their adversaries even more desperate and savage then they were now.

Either way, Tim had little doubt that Batman would either forbid the search, or would destroy the network as soon as he found its core. And he couldn't allow it!

And that was why he was taking the long way toward finding out the identity of the Voice. If he could accomplish that on his own it would mean that he could secure Gotham against the criminal element and start laying the ground works to help Batman Inc. with its crusade against global crime.

Which brought him to his next problem; Gotham City!

Right now, with the steadily expanding network that was Batman Inc., Dick Grayson was playing the role of Batman with Damian Wayne as Robin, while Bruce spent most of his time traveling and expanding the net he was creating. And the simple fact was that once the net became too large, Bruce was going to need help maintaining it. Oh, Tim had no doubt in Bruce's capabilities to maintain the organization, but it was the person to person connections that bothered Tim.

While definitely more energized and humanized, since returning, Bruce Wayne was still a cold and calculating person, moving his allies like pawns on a chessboard. If Batman Inc. was to survive its first year, Dick Grayson, one of the most loved and respected heroes currently on duty would have to step up and travel alongside Bruce.

Which would leave Gotham needing a Batman again. If Bruce's temporary demise taught them anything it was that the other vigilantes' didn't have a prayer of stopping the particular brand of madness Gotham produced, without a Batman at the helm.

Taking the role was something Tim thought unthinkable for him to do, only a year earlier, but now he was more than sure he could pull it off. After all, most of the young street gangs were now under his watch, because of the Neon Knights Foundation and his standing arrangement with Penguin meant he had at the very least a way in if he ever needed Cobblepot's information. Unlikely, but he was accounting for every possibility. And then there was Lonnie Machin AKA Moneyspider, his own personal Oracle of sorts.

With all that working for him he could easily step into Dick, or even Bruce's shoes if the situation explicitly called for it.

The only major problem he could foresee was with Commissioner Gordon. While he had been a staunch supporter of the Bat-Family's efforts, since long before Tim joined the ranks, his attitude toward Red Robin specifically was distrustful at best. His recent correct assumption that it was Tim, who sprung Lynx from prison, didn't help the old detective's views. Scarab's escape didn't help either.

As those thoughts passed through his mind, Tim's wristwatch beeped, informing him of his annual correspondence with Pru, a former League of Assassin's member and currently his best woman on the trail of the Council of Spiders. Her recent reports had become more erratic and briefer, but for all intents and purposes, they boiled down to "Getting closer!"

Tim wasn't particularly worried for Pru as she was not only perfectly capable of holding her own in a fight, but he did have one or two fail-safes in play.

As Tim slung down from the bars however, his plans changed almost momentarily as the surveillance equipment in his apartment announced he had a visitor.

"TIMOTHY JACKSON DRAKE! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

Even through the speakers of the computer Tim both recognized the voice and the fact that its owner was probably here for blood.

A quick look at the monitor screen that was set to observe the entrance to his bunker confirmed his suspicions.

"And I was having such a good day," Tim sighed and headed toward the entrance of the bunker, readying himself to face the music.

_Okay, _Tim thought as he was holding his bruised jaw. Combined with the still healing fractures from a few weeks ago, it was enough for him to start seeing stars. _I don't think I deserved that!_

"What was that for?!" he asked his attacker.

Stephanie Brown AKA Batgirl, who had just re-introduced him to her right cross, was leveling a pretty impressive glare in his direction. Stephanie stood at 5'5" and with the same athletic build Tim always remembered her to have, and her blonde hair was currently tied in a ponytail. Her normally calm blue eyes however were now baring a very striking resemblance to daggers. In fact, Tim was starting to actually feel a little frightened by his co-worker's anger. Normally, when Steph was angry with someone she jumper straight to yelling at them. Tim had learned at his own peril that it takes a special kind of fury to get her both angry _and_ silent!

A few more moments passed with the tension mounting, before Tim spoke again.

"Um… how've you been?" he asked, trying to smile.

As a response, Steph slung at him again, but this time, years of training and fighting kicked in, allowing him to deflect the blow. Even as he did however, he noticed it was slightly faster than Steph's usual swing and far more economic in movement. She was obviously getting some use out of her training.

After the unsuccessful swing, the girl stepped back a little, still not uttering a word

"Mind telling me why I'm under attack in my own home?" Tim asked coldly, staring directly back at Stephanie and subtly shifting his stance.

"Dick told me what you did to Lucius Fox and his family!" Stephanie clarified and crossed her arms on her chest.

"Oh," Tim muttered, his gaze lowering to the ground for a second.

"_Oh_?" Stephanie asked in a ferociously cold tone. "You fake a man's death, lie to his family, which by the way contains a girl you're supposedly getting married to according to the tabloids, letting them mourn the loss of a loved one and all you have to say for yourself is _oh_?"

"Look, I had to…"

"Yes, yes, yes!" the blonde interrupted him again. "You had to lie, so you can catch the assassins and stop some big tournament thingy that was brewing all 'round the world and you felt bad about lying and BU FREAKING HU! What is wrong with you?!"

Tim blinked once, but didn't respond to Steph's accusations. Lying to Tam Fox about her father's supposed demise had been one of the hardest parts of his entire plan, but even so it served a purpose. He hated leaving Tam like that, but he also wasn't going to justify his actions! Not when they were aimed at helping people on this big of a scale. If she couldn't see that by now, he couldn't change her view.

"No answer?" the girl continued. "Good, because I have an answer for you; you are losing it! Manipulating people, that's what the bad guys do! Not us!"

"Bruce has done it," Tim pointed out quietly, but that didn't seem to deter Stephanie that much, as she continued with her yelling.

"Oh, yes!" she threw up her arms in exasperation. "And we all know how well that ended up for him, don't we?"

Tim again didn't respond to the barb, letting it slide, but he had to admit Stephanie had a point. Batman's cold detachment was one of the key factors that served to further his isolation from the rest of the superhero community and in recent years, Tim had begun to see the great deal of negative side effects it accumulated for all of them. From simple distrust to outright fear some of the younger heroes and even seasoned veterans, expressed toward virtually every member of the Bat-Family.

"And furthermore," Stephanie continued her tirade, after letting the silence draw out for a second or two in which time Tim suspected she was catching her breath. "You are damn freaking lucky I was in London, fighting brainwashed schoolgirls, or I would have clobbered some sense into your thick skull myself!"

"Did you enjoy London?" Tim asked, after Steph had finally stopped yelling at him.

Several different scenarios ran through Tim's mind as he asked the question, not few of which ended with him nursing another bruise, but by the time Stephanie spoke again, her anger had subsided.

"It was okay," she muttered and turned halfway around. "Tim… We're just worried for you. You know that right?" she asked in a lower voice.

Despite his control and the anger that still lingered from Stephanie's earlier accusations, Tim couldn't help but crack a small smile at her concern.

"I know Steph," he sighed. "And I know I screwed up with the Tournament in regards to Tam." he admitted further. "But I wouldn't do anything differently, even if I could. It wasn't the best decision for everyone, but it was the right one!"

"I know Tim," the girl sighed and started toward the door. "And I think that's what worries me." she added, almost too quiet for Tim to hear.

With that Stephanie left, leaving Tim alone with his thoughts… For about a moment or so.

"I. FOUND. SOMETHING." said a synthesized voice, snapping Tim from his stupor.

Slowly, the teen hero walked toward the opened laptop on his desk and saw that the message came from Moneyspider.

Lonnie Machin, formerly known as Anarky had assumed the identity of Moneyspider, after an encounter with Ulysses Armstrong one of Tim's personal Rogues had left the man catatonic and hooked up to a computer, which allowed him to hack virtually anything. Since Tim rescued him from Armstrong's clutches, Lonnie had been a steadfast companion of Tim's, even helping police the Unternet, while Tim found a way to dismantle it.

Even so, Tim had to admit his friend's timing sucked!

"I'm not having a great morning Lonnie," Tim spoke toward the laptop screen, which translated his words into text.

"NOTICED." came Lonnie's reply. "YOUR. LIFE. HAS. TOO. MUCH. DRAMA. IN. IT."

"No kidding," Tim muttered under his breath, prompting an error message to appear on the screen, which indicated he had spoken too quietly. "Oh for the… What do you have Lonnie? Something new come up on the catacombs in Paris?"

"CLOSER. TO. HOME." Moneyspider corrected. "SOMEONE. HAS. BEEN. SKIMMING. FUNDS. FROM. THE. NEON. KNIGHTS."

This got Tim's full attention.

The Neon Knights existed to both help at risk youths throughout Gotham and also served as Tim's unofficial link to almost all the information that the youth gangs in Gotham possessed. It was all relatively minor stuff when one looked at the big picture, but it served to push at least some of the kids away from a life of crime and the decrease in adolescent violent crime rates had been a testament that it was working.

Someone skimming money from the Knights was almost a declaration of open war against trying to stop crime, which made the person doing so either very stupid or very devious. And Tim fervently hoped that it was the latter. Stupid people cause far more damage than devious ones.

No matter the reasoning behind the theft however, it left Tim with three viable options as to who was doing it.

The first was the Golden Dragons, one of the few youth gang that hadn't signed the Neon Knights treaty and was currently under the leadership of a girl he only knew as Lynx, who may or may not be a Hong Kong PD undercover officer and may or may not have the hots for him. If her story was legit, she could be setting the Dragons up to take the fall for what could prove an international scandal.

The other possibility was a remote hack from somewhere, from some enterprising young genius which meant that it would have been best to simply turn this information over to Oracle or just let Lonnie get the money back.

Both theories however had one major flaw in them; access!

Since Barbara Gordon AKA Oracle AKA one of the world's two best hackers had set up the Wayne Enterprises Firewalls not to mention reinforced everything that was even remotely tied to Batman Inc. the thought that someone could break in was both scary and near blasphemy.

Which left just one possible explanation; an inside job.

"Any idea who?" Tim asked, interlacing his fingers and settling back into his chair.

"MORE. THAN. THAT." Lonnie confirmed. "HAVE. AN. ID."

As soon as the words flashed on the screen, a picture opened.

The picture was that of a girl of African-American descent, with long black hair and brown eyes.

Even before the ID flashed under the picture, Tim recognized her as Tiffany Fox, daughter of Lucius Fox, sister of Tam Fox and current head of the Gotham City branch of the Neon Knights.

"How much are we talking about Lonnie?" Tim asked, vainly hoping for at least an ounce of good luck.

"COMPARED. TO. WAYNE. ENTERPRYSES. STOCK. IT. IS. A. DROP. IN. THE. OCEAN." Moneyspider replied, giving Tim a momentary sliver of hope, before he continued to speak "COMPARED. TO. NEON. KNIGHTS. FUNDS. IT. IS. A. DROP. IN. A. SHOT. GLASS."

"Rough estimate?" Tim asked, burying his head in his hands.

"1765789. DOLLARS."

_Some shot glass, _Tim mused.

"Over what period of time have the funds been drained?" Tim asked, starting to run down avenues that might exonerate Tiffany.

After all, while she might have always regarded Tim with professional detachment and not once given him the cold shoulder, especially after the scandal over Lucius's death, Tiffany would never jeopardize her career or her father's name by being willing involved in a scandal like this.

"THREE. MONTHS" Lonnie's monotone voice box provided, closing off the first possibility. There was no way, Tiffany wouldn't notice her ID badge missing for that long.

"Run check for reports of stolen ID badges!" Tim ordered and marched straight into the bunker, while waiting for Moneyspider's response.

"NO. REPORTS. FILED."

_Damn it!_

"Open Sesame!" Tim snarled and the door to his bunker opened immediately.

The structure itself was three stories tall above ground, and it had an underground storage space for vehicular access. Combined with the forensic laboratory, armory, training facility and communications center, it was virtually a smaller copy of the Batcave. Only it had a popcorn machine.

" . ?" Moneyspider asked as Tim stepped on the elevator platform that was installed and punched the button for the underground floor.

"Need to prioritize," Tim explained as he stepped off the platform and headed toward his gear locker. "Have to definitively exclude Lynx and the Dragons from the equation. Forward all findings so far to the Bunker under Wayne Tower and inform them that I will drop by 0300 tomorrow." Tim started listing off everything that he could do, without directly confronting Tiffany and Lucius. "Then start backtracking every entry into the Neon Knights accounts. Find if anyone piggybacked on Tiffany's entrances."

With the last command, Tim placed his hand on the biometric scanner that was used to lock his suit and within a few moments, he heard the locks disengaging from the titanium casing.

Inside it stood Tim's now signature Red Robin suit. Red body, with black legging, along with chest harness connected to the cape and cowl. A perfect blend of Nomex flame retardant polymer with an inner lining of Kevlar and form fitted for perfect maneuverability. To either side of the red and black suit stood utility belts, throwing disks, grappling hooks and other "tools of the trade" that Tim and the Batman family had grown accustomed to over the years, along with his personal signature _bo_ staff.

"YOU. ARE. TRYING. TO. AVOID. CONFRONTATION." Moneyspider pointed out and even through the synthetic voice, Tim could hear the disapproval.

"I'm trying to avoid a scandal!" Tim corrected as he unfastened the suit from its stand.

"AS. I. SAID." Moneyspider continued. "AVOIDING. CONFRONTATION."

_I need to find people who don't know me as well, _Tim sighed and pulled the cowl over his face.

_**Dixon Dock 10:22 PM**_

After Lynx's arrest at Red Robin's hands a month ago, the Golden Dragons had to move their territory, to accommodate for her loss. Even after Tim busted her out of prison however, Lynx kept the territory in the same place, both for convenience sake and the fact that the docks provided a good place for shady meetings.

Much like the one that was currently taking place between the Dragons and some of The Penguin's men.

From his hiding spot, a few container rolls back, Tim recognized most of them; all on the Penguin's payroll, all with pretty long records. He knew well that there was no way they'd turn on their boss. Cobblepot might be one of the nicer crime bosses in Gotham, but people still crossed him at extreme risk. Not to mention that even if someone talked, Cobblepot's army of lawyers would just deny anything.

What puzzled Tim the most however was that The Penguin would be dealing with the likes of The Golden Dragons at all. It was a risky proposition, given how, as the Dragons were one of the few gangs not to sign the peace treaty, they are one of the few that the GCPD pursued almost relentlessly.

_And more importantly, _Tim thought and adjusted the zoom on his cowl's lens. _Are they buying or selling?_

A moment later, Tim spotted the leader of the Golden Dragons, the girl he only knew as Lynx.

As usual she was in full costume of metallic red and blue, katana on her back and white porcelain mask concealing her face, save for her mouth, jet black hair tied back meticulously.

Even from this distance it was hard for Tim to suppress the rush of adrenaline he felt from seeing her. She was dangerous, beautiful and there was a high probability that she was playing him for a fool, but even so, the jolt of seeing her was there.

In fact, he was really starting to understand great deal about how Selena Kyle AKA Catwoman had stayed out of prison for as long as she had. It was the chase that fueled the unending dance that she shared with Batman. A game of hide and seek, predator and prey.

Tim quickly shook off the feeling and returned to observing the deal that was going down.

Penguin's men appeared to be carrying duffle bags, while the Dragons were empty-handed. That meant that if this was a drug-buy as Tim expected, Penguin was smart enough to ask for the cash, either in advance or after delivery. After all, it left the way for his men to deny involvement. After all, who would level charges against "honest gentlemen", who just happened upon drug dealing gangsters?

What was more peculiar was that the Dragons, didn't engage in drugs, at least not on Gotham soil. Which meant that Lynx was also up to something tonight.

_Two birds for the price of one, _Tim smirked under his cowl, as the bags were being exchanged, meaning that everything was ripe for the picking.

While Lynx was the only one with an obvious weapon, Tim knew better as he was starting to prepare his entrance. He had to take out the Penguin's men and the Dragons as fast as possible, without giving Lynx a chance to run. While she was still sticking to her HKPD story, it didn't mean she was making life easy on Tim, when it came to confronting her about information.

Throwing disks were too impractical against such a large number of opponents and especially at this distance. Hand to hand was also out of the question, as he would probably be shot several times before the dust settled. Even with Kevlar plating, a shot could still cost him a broken rib at that close range. Which left him with one option.

"Moneyspider," Tim whispered into his commlink. "Shut down the power grid at Dixon's Dock, in a two block radius from my location. Ten seconds."

"AND. CALL. THE. POLICE." Lonnie guessed correctly. "ON. YOUR. MARK."

"Mark!" Tim said and took a running start, switching to the night vision of his cowl along the way toward the edge of the container. He wanted to be able to see the festivities.

As soon as his boots hit the container ledge and took off in a low glide, the lights immediately went dark.

Ten seconds would be enough for the opposition to adjust to the sudden darkness and then be blinded, when they went back up. That way he had the element of surprise on his side and ensured that he'd be seen fighting Lynx. After all, he needed to put up a show for the Penguin's men, otherwise Cobblepot might think that Lynx was double-crossing him, which would prove disastrous for her and the Dragons in short order. If he was seen fighting Lynx, then she was in the clear as far as the Penguin was concerned.

_Ten, _he counted off as he descended toward the group. The cape wasn't really build for a glide this low to the ground, but it wasn't that long a leap either.

_Nine, _the gang members and Penguin's men had finally gotten over their original surprise of the lights going out and were reaching in to pull out their weapons.

_Eight, _the smartest of the gangsters were starting to run toward the nearest cover. Only two or three remained where they stood, either too scared or too stupid to process what was happening.

_Seven, _Tim shifted his glide a little and aimed straight at the dragon member standing closest to Lynx. He had little doubt that the gang leader had noticed him and was clued to what he was doing. Which explained why she had a sword in her hand.

_Six, _Tim tucked his legs under his body and then extended them forward, slamming the goon next to lynx with the full weight of his body at speed, literally knocking him off his feet.

_Five,_ as soon as his legs touched the ground, Tim raised his armored forearm, intercepting a blow from Lynx's sword, this his left one grabbed a throwing disk from one of his belt compartments and threw a disc directly at another gang member, who had pointed his weapon in his general direction.

_Four, _the disk connected and there was a sharp noise of breaking bone following the impact. Tim felt Lynx's blade slide off his armored forearm, so he readjusted the scallops on his gauntlet, to trap the steel further and try to twist it out of her grasp.

_Three, _he could hear the yells of the bad guys around him, starting to rally. He needed to wrap this up and grabbed one of the two grapples on his belt.

_Two_, Tim aimed the grapple low toward Lynx's leading foot and simultaneously pushed her sword upwards, breaking her grasp on the weapon and freeing his other hand to act.

_One, _not wasting an instant, his now free right hand grabbed the second grapple, aiming the weapon upwards toward one of the loading cranes above them. He fired both weapons simultaneously and clipped the grapples to one another.

Just as the motors began to retract the carbon-fiber lines of the grapples, pulling Lynx off her feet and toward the loading crane, the lights all around him went back up, illuminating the surrounding area and giving him a pretty clear view of the two groups.

Both the members of the Golden Dragons and Penguin's men were staring at him with varying degrees of fear and hatred, but even so most of their weapons were as of yet, not drawn, perhaps out of fear that they might hit an ally, or perhaps that the flash would make them a perfect target in the near pitch darkness Tim caused.

He had to fight hard not to crack a smile at the sight. A few years ago, they would have attacked him where he stood, because he was just Robin. Now however, they were staring at him with the same horror Batman himself caused them. It was good to be feared. Lynx's blade at his feet and the gang leader herself suspended in the air over his head, just cemented the terror.

"Disperse!" he yelled, lowering his voice to a harsh whisper. "Now!"

That proved to be more than enough as both groups started to retreat wary of him toward the nearest exit, leaving both the bags and Lynx to him.

A few seconds after the last of them was out of sight, Tim activated the communicator in his cowl.

"Moneyspider?"

"ALL. GONE." Lonnie confirmed, probably through the security cameras spread throughout the docks. All Tim did to acknowledge was to press a button on his belt, which released the grapples he used to disable Lynx.

A moment later he heard a soft impact behind him, no doubt Lynx landing on her feet. She was far too skilled to land otherwise.

"What is it you Americans say?" he heard her silken, smooth voice behind him. "Sweep a girl off her feet, right?"

"They don't mean it that literally," he corrected not turning around. He could feel her presence behind him, smell her perfume in the air. He didn't need any more distractions.

"Still so serious," she whispered in his ear, faint note of disappointed mixed in her voice. "Shame." she added and walked into view, slowly, gracefully and deliberately.

"I have a problem," Tim continued, not allowing her to change the topic. "Wanted to know if you're mixed up in it."

"And what is your so called, problem?" the girl asked, smiling slightly.

"Someone has been embezzling fund from the Neon Knights," he continued, picking up Lynx's dropped weapon. "Your gang is one of the few that hasn't signed the peace treaty. That makes you an obvious suspect."

"I find Wayne's project amusing." Lynx smirked, making a grab for her weapon, but Tim pulled it out of reach. "He is a very funny little man."

_Little? _Tim thought outraged, but quickly refocused.

"What do you mean?"

"Trying to impose control on something that can't be controlled," Lynx said, tracing her finger over Tim's arm, leaning in closer. It felt like electricity was running up and down his body, his heart rate excelerating. "Fighting against the tide of human nature," her face was now only inches away from his. He could feel her breath on his cheek, smell the sweat on her body. "Against basic cravings," she whispered and Tim got the distinct impression that she wasn't talking about the Neon Knights anymore.

Before Tim could react, Lynx's lips found his, kissing him hungrily, no trace of self-consciousness, or doubt, or hesitation. Surprised, Tim tried to pull away, but Lynx's arms found their way around his neck, pulling him deeper into the kiss and he found himself responding to her.

His arms, gripped her tightly, pulling her closer, the warmth of their bodies pressed together, the scent of her perfume mixing with the sweat and leather.

_Stop, _a voice in Tim's head yelled. _Don't do this!_

He could barely hear it, he didn't want to hear it, not now, but he had to. On some level, he knew this would be a mistake, and he couldn't afford it. Not now, not ever!

"Stop!" Tim whispered as Lynx broke the kiss of for a moment to breathe, but she didn't oblige, too lost in the moment. "I said, stop!" he raised his voice and pushed her away, nearly losing his balance in the process.

Much to his surprise, Lynx's only reaction was to let out a peal of silvery laughter.

"So close," she smiled licking her lips slowly, causing Tim to nearly regret his decision. "You almost lost control." She observed with a deep sigh and knelt down to pick up her weapon, which had fallen during the kiss. "Maybe next time?" she offered just as the police sirens begun to sound in the distance.

_Probably…_

"Don't count on it." was what Tim replied out loud. No need to tell her how close it was for him to completely give in. In fact he had the feeling Lynx already knew it. "What about the Neon Knights?"

"If I was going to frame the Dragons, I wouldn't want the entire town howling for our blood," she replied and started toward the nearest exit.

"Still keeping to that story, huh?" Tim fished.

"Do you still think it's just a story?" the gang leader asked, slight disappointment in her voice.

"I still have doubts,"

"Only your mind does," Lynx replied. "Your heart doesn't!"

"I don't trust my heart," Tim replied and released the second grapple, catching both devices as they fell to the ground.

"A shame," was all Lynx replied before she vanished from sight.

"SHE. WASN'T. VERY. HELPFUL." Lonnie's voice came over the commlink, jarring Tim back to reality.

"No, she wasn't," Tim sighed and grappled toward the highest container he could see. The cops would be arriving any minute and the last thing he needed was to find himself standing over bags of drugs.

What's more, if the Dragons weren't behind the stolen money, his list of suspects went down to virtually nobody. Nobody besides Tiffany Fox, which almost sounded insane.

"WHAT. IS. YOUR. NEXT. STEP?" Lonnie asked.

"Run down some other leads," Tim sighed, despite knowing that they would probably be a dead end too. "Any luck on the cyber front?"

"NONE." Lonnie replied and even through the monotone, Tim could hear disappointment in the statement. "IT. APPEARS. YOU. ARE. GOING. TO. HAVE. TO. SPEAK. TO. THE. FOX. GIRL."

"Please don't remind me," Tim ordered as he landed next to his motorcycle. "Did you inform the Bunker?"

"THEY. SAID. THEY. ARE. EXPECTING. YOU."

_Great… _ Tim though as he coaxed the bike to life.

Hope you enjoyed that, looking forward to criticism!


End file.
